Columbia Asia Master Chef Challenge 2015

“Throughout the course of advocating diabetes awareness for the past years, we realised that it is a mission impossible for Malaysians to barter-trade their favourite delights for health. The good news now is that they don’t really have to part with delicious food because there are ways to enjoy food in a health-promoting manner,” said Columbia Asia-South East Asia CEO, Kelvin Tan.
Committed to educating the community on the best way to eat healthy, nine chefs from across Columbia Asia’s facilities nationwide faced-off in the Columbia Asia Master Chef Challenge 2015. They worked closely with in-house dietitian to reinterpret Malaysian favourites and recipes so that the output is a diabetic-safe meal plan without compromising taste.
“In the business of providing healthcare to diabetic patients, we are only too familiar with the challenges of living with diabetes and we always wanted to make diabetes less medical and less of a black-cloud diagnosis.”
“Therefore, in line with our campaign focus on healthy eating for World Diabetes Day 2015, we decided that the best place to start was from within our own kitchens. We want to show the public that it is easy to prepare a wholesome meal and it is possible for it to taste delicious,” Tan added.
In celebration of World Diabetes Day this 14th November, Columbia Asia will be opening its doors to all Malaysians who love to sample delicious yet healthy dishes. On top of that, they will also get a chance to try appetising diabetic-friendly dishes. Starting 10.30am, the chefs will also be holding a cooking demonstration at their respective facilities.
Diabetics and in-house patients will get the chance to savour the meals for free while visitors can taste a diabetic-friendly dish or choose from 10 additional healthy meals for RM4. Proceeds from the meals will be donated to Diabetes Malaysia.
Recipes from the Columbia Asia Master Chef Challenge 2015 and other healthy recipes have also been compiled into a booklet. This recipe booklet is available for free on 14th November at participating hospitals. The participating Columbia Asia hospitals are Bukit Rimau, Cheras, Nusajaya, Petaling Jaya, Puchong, Seremban, Setapak, Shah Alam and Taiping.
Columbia Asia has always been championing the cause for diabetes awareness through its CSR efforts. Besides the cook-off, this year’s campaign also focuses on giving voice to the children with diabetes through Columbia Asia’s short story and poetry competition.
Diabetic kids under 12-years old are encouraged to express themselves in writing, sharing what it is like to live with diabetes. The theme of this competition is ‘My Life as a Diabetic Child.’ Cash prizes valued at a total of RM19,000 will be awarded to the winners.